Not A Regressor - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 37
Paradise (4)
“Wow, you’re even more handsome in person!”
“No way! Can we take a photo together?”
The two women who approached me chattered excitedly.
“Mm.”
I swallowed hard, my expression growing awkward.
‘I knew there would be people who recognized me when I walked around.’
But I never expected them to approach me so aggressively.
‘Maybe I should brush them off politely.’
I had no desire to get entangled with them for long.
“…Didn’t you two come here to buy coffee?”
I spoke with obvious annoyance.
“So stop being annoying and get lost.”
Good.
I’d been clear enough—they couldn’t possibly misunderstand, right?
“W-wait, did you just hear that? He told us to get lost!!”
“Kyaaah!! He’s so cold! So cold!!”
What?
“Oppa? Can we call you oppa?”
“I-I think I’m going crazy! I love this so much…!”
Yeah, they’re definitely crazy.
‘What’s going on?’
Why were they reacting like this?
“Could you sign something for us, oppa?”
“….”
A signature? Seriously.
Kwon O-jin’s life had really taken a turn.
‘Well, a signature is no big deal.’
It didn’t cost anything, so it wasn’t difficult to oblige.
I took the pen they offered.
But why were they only giving me a pen?
“Where should I sign?”
“Here, right here!”
One woman lifted her coat slightly and pointed to her t-shirt.
It was near her collarbone—a location where a careless movement could easily brush against her chest.
‘No.’
Were they seriously insane?
‘What is this, a nightclub?’
What were they trying to do in front of a cafe counter?
Even I, who possessed considerable skill in managing my expression, couldn’t hide my bewilderment.
“Hurry up~”
“Hehe, I’m embarrassed doing this, oppa~”
If you’re embarrassed, then don’t do it, you idiots.
“…Sigh.”
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and picked up the pen.
I wasn’t happy about this, but it would be over once I signed, wouldn’t it?
‘Let’s just get this done.’
It was my first outing with Song Ha-eun in a while.
I didn’t want to be interrupted any further.
Just as I moved the pen to sign on the t-shirt—
“━What are you two doing?”
A beast with crimson hair approached us.
“U-uh?”
“Who are you?”
The two women clinging to me flinched and asked.
A blazing murderous intent.
The fierce, overwhelming killing intent that ordinary people could barely endure stimulated their instincts.
“Who the hell are you bastards?”
Song Ha-eun reached out and grabbed the back of my neck.
Thunk!
She roughly yanked me by the nape and pulled my head into her embrace.
“This guy’s my girlfriend?”
She twisted her lips into a smirk as she spoke.
“Huh…?”
“G-girlfriend?”
The two women looked Song Ha-eun up and down with bewildered expressions.
Her height exceeding 170 centimeters, her flawless figure.
Facial features as if carved meticulously by a world-class artisan, and skin so fair not a single blemish was visible.
“…Ugh.”
Though the two had some confidence in their appearance, compared to Song Ha-eun, they had nothing but two eyes and a nose to offer.
An overwhelming sense of defeat.
While they always said appearance wasn’t everything, for those who had relied on their looks to approach me, Song Ha-eun’s existence was nothing short of a dead end.
“W-what? This is ridiculous.”
“We were just trying to get an autograph, you know?”
Like mere foot soldiers before a general, the two women nervously turned and fled the cafe.
“Heh. What audacity these pathetic women have.”
Song Ha-eun crossed her arms and burst into gleeful laughter.
“Ehehehe!”
“Oh, sorry.”
I released Kwon O-jin’s head from my embrace.
“Sigh. You really….”
“What, what is it?”
“Nothing. You did well.”
Kwon O-jin let out a small laugh despite his sigh.
It wasn’t as if I’d beaten the kids senseless—they’d simply tucked tail and fled on their own, so there couldn’t have been a better resolution.
“But seriously, your popularity is insane.”
“Tell me about it. This is going to be a headache going forward.”
I’d anticipated this outcome, but having my face exposed to the public was proving far more troublesome than expected.
‘Well, there’s no helping it.’
For every tide that rises, another must fall.
To wield the formidable weapon that was the ‘Apostle of Polaris’ without restraint, this minor inconvenience was a price worth paying.
“…Don’t just go following anyone who flatters you, alright?”
Song Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and glared at him.
“I have no interest in meeting other women.”
“Huh? Y-you really? Why… are you like that?”
Song Ha-eun asked with her face flushed slightly.
“It costs money.”
“Damn it.”
Always the same guy.
A quiet curse escaped her lips.
“Sigh… well, fine. That’s better than flirting with just anyone, I suppose.”
She sighed and pulled Kwon O-jin’s arm.
“Come on, let’s hurry to the next place!”
“What about the coffee?”
“Forget it.”
If I kept arguing here, a similar incident might break out again.
“Let’s go somewhere without people.”
“Where should we go?”
“Hmm….”
Song Ha-eun paused in thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers with a decisive click.
“A karaoke room! Let’s go to a karaoke room!!”
“Heh. Okay.”
At a karaoke room, even she, who couldn’t see, would be able to enjoy herself plenty.
The downside was that she’d need to memorize the lyrics of every song she wanted to sing.
“Hurry, hurry!”
Ka-ha-ha!
Song Ha-eun pulled my arm with a cheerful smile.
By the time we’d finished singing enthusiastically in the karaoke room and stepped back outside.
“…The sun’s already set.”
December nights fall quickly.
“Should we head back soon?”
“Just a little longer…”
“I have work tomorrow morning, so I need to get to bed early.”
“…Is that so?”
After a long silence.
Song Ha-eun bit her lip gently and nodded.
“…Let’s go.”
“Mm.”
On the way home.
“Ah, it’s snowing.”
Snowflakes drifted down from the darkened sky.
“Hehe. I thought something cold kept falling on my head.”
Song Ha-eun tightened her grip on Kwon O-jin’s arm and smiled brightly.
Crunch, crunch.
Only the soft sound of footsteps echoed along the quiet, snow-dusted path.
“….”
“….”
The silence stretched on, yet it felt natural.
Simply━ this moment.
This present hour.
I wished it would never end.
‘…But.’
A sharp ache throbbed from my bitten lip.
“O-jin.”
“Hmm?”
“How much… have you saved up?”
Carefully.
I opened my mouth as gently as treading on fresh snow.
“I’ve saved it all.”
“…All of it? Ten billion won?”
“Yes.”
“….”
Song Ha-eun’s lips trembled.
I’d thought it would take a while longer, but I never expected to have accumulated all ten billion won already.
“Wow, you earned it incredibly fast.”
Even for an Apostle of Polaris, the speed was unreasonable.
“I got lucky. I had some savings set aside from before too.”
“R-really…?”
Squeeze.
My clenched fist tightened with force.
My nails dug into flesh.
Snowflakes falling from above were bitterly cold against my skin.
“So… we really don’t have much time left like this, do we?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
….
A response sharp as a blade.
As if my heart had been carved out.
My chest ached.
“Are you… really going to Paradise?”
Even though I already knew the answer.
I asked anyway.
“I’m going. I’ve been saving money for this all along.”
….
It hurt.
It hurt so much, so deeply.
As if something inside me would shatter.
“Don’t…”
Go.
Don’t leave me behind.
I forcibly suppressed those words trying to escape my lips.
“Huh?”
“Oh, no! Nothing. Hehe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Shut up, you brat!”
Thump! Thump!
I struck their shoulder irritably.
….
Silence again.
“You… won’t forget me, right?”
I squeezed out the words.
“…Why would I forget you?”
After that answer, there was no more conversation.
The December night sky was dark, without a single star’s light.
Like the darkness that shrouded her eyes.
* * *
The next day.
“I have some business at the Bank, so I’m heading out.”
Early in the morning, Kwon O-jin left.
“Sigh.”
A deep breath escaped from Song Ha-eun’s lips as she sat alone.
She picked up her smartphone and turned on the news.
[The December Yongsan auction being held today is drawing more attention than usual….]
She turned it off.
“…Maybe I should go take a look.”
Sitting on the bed and wrestling with her thoughts, she slowly rose to her feet.
The other items at the auction held no interest for her.
There was only one thing she cared about.
‘The Dragon’s Eye.’
A 6-star sacred relic possessing the power to dispel all manner of curses, including the Dragon’s Curse.
“….”
Her ashen eyes trembled faintly.
If only she had the Dragon’s Eye.
Perhaps.
Perhaps even the Heavenly Dragon’s curse could━
“Ha, haha.”
A hollow laugh echoed through the room.
“There’s no way I could afford it….”
The Dragon’s Eye was a sacred relic obtained only rarely from 6-star or higher dragon-type monsters.
Because it appeared so infrequently, at most one would be put up for auction in a year, making its supply incredibly limited.
It would easily exceed 6 to 7 billion won, yet even combining all her assets barely exceeded 300 million—how could she possibly obtain it?
‘Still… still, what if.’
Her lips grew parched and cracked.
The sweet whisper of ‘hope’ drew her forward.
‘What if there were no competitors today?’
It wasn’t an impossibility.
While the Dragon’s Eye had never happened before, other 6-star sacred relics were often sold cheaply.
“Right, right! How many people are even cursed these days!”
In reality, monsters that actually used curses were rare.
Especially a specialized curse like the ‘Dragon’s Curse’—until now, only Barbatos, the Heavenly Dragon, had ever wielded such power.
━Then.
If no one had any reason to dispel curses in the first place.
Couldn’t she buy the Dragon’s Eye at a bargain price?
“….”
She swallowed hard.
A dry gulp traveled down her throat.
She tried to suppress the hope with negative thoughts—it won’t happen, it can’t happen—but.
Once ‘hope’ began to spread, it consumed her mind faster than any poison.
“Yes, let’s go, go! I’ve got nothing to lose!”
Song Ha-eun rose from the bed with vigorous energy.
Perhaps.
The thought that a miracle beyond compare might unfold filled her with vitality.
‘If only the curse could be broken.’
━Then I might be able to go to Paradise with him.
At the mere imagination, her lips curved upward of their own accord.
“Let me wash up quickly and get going!”
She entered the bathroom and splashed cold water over herself.
The frigid water, though bone-chilling, somehow felt remarkably warm.
Click.
She opened the door and stepped outside.
Moving forward, she tapped the ground with her cane.
—Tap, tap, tap!
The sound of the cane striking the floor felt oddly cheerful.
‘Yes, with a bit of luck, I can definitely survive!’
Her grip tightened on the hand holding the card and identification, resolve coursing through her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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